The present invention relates to an inspection device useful for self-inspection of cavities in the human body, particularly cavities in the mouth.
Inspection of cavities in the mouth, for instance, a cavity in a tooth, has hitherto been entrusted to dentists. However, it is desirable that one shall be able to take care of and manage one's own teeth daily. And yet, when one tries to inspect one's own teeth, because there is scarcely available any apposite instrument, one is obliged to resort to a small mirror with a handle such as for dental use, together with a hand mirror, while directing light on the tooth to be inspected. The state of things at the time of thus conducting the inspection of teeth is as illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4.
In the case of inspecting the inner side of the left lower back teeth 1, as shown by a solid line in FIG. 2, the hand-mirror 6 is either held by the left hand 4 or placed on a desk, the handle 8 of the dental mirror 7 with a commercial pencil-light 9 fastened thereto is held by the right hand 5 and is inclined to the right at an angle of about A/2 in relation to a virtual line passing through the center of the mouth so as to make the image of the inner side of said left lower back teeth be thrown back by the dental mirror 7 to be reflexed in the center of the hand-mirror 6. The side view of the state of things on this occasion is as illustrated in FIG. 1. To be precise, the relative positions of the dental mirror 7 and the hand-mirror 6 are adjusted so that the projected light from the left lower back teeth 1 should repeat reflection optically and enter the eye.
In the case of inspecting the inner side of the right lower back-teeth 2, as shown by a double-dotted line in FIG. 2, the handle 8 of the dental mirror 7 is supposed to be inclined to the left at an angle of about A/2 in relation to said virtual line passing through the center of the mouth to perform the inspection.
On this occasion, if the right hand 5 is directly moved to the left, it would be in the way of the hand-mirror 6. Therefore, the handle 8 must be shifted from the right hand 5 to the left hand 4, or if the right hand 5 is continued to be used, the manner of holding the handle must be somehow changed.
The state of things at the time of inspecting the back side of the fore teeth is illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the handle 8 is inclined at an angle of about C/2 in relation to the virtual line passing through the center of the mouth and the dental mirror 7 is positioned in the back side of the lower fore-teeth 3. FIG. 3 is a side view of this occasion, and as illustrated therein, the dental mirror 7 must be erected practically parallel to the fore-teeth and, accordingly, the handle 8 is supposed to be moved through an angle of about B in the vertical direction compared with the case of inspecting the back-teeth illustrated in FIG. 1.
It will be understood from the foregoing description that inspection of the teeth by the use of the conventional dental mirror 7 is very troublesome as the position of the handle 8 of said dental mirror must be widely changed the horizontal as well as the vertical direction in front of the mouth by shifting said handle from the right hand to the left or from the left hand to the right, or changing the way of holding the mirror as often as the occasion demands, even when holding the mirror by the right hand. Such inconveniences are experienced not only in inspecting the inner parts of the lower teeth as stated above but also in inspecting other parts of the teeth.